Pull Apart Chocolate Chrysanthemum Bread Recipes

CHOCOLATE PULL APART BREAD

Steps:

• Heat the milk and the butter in a saucepan over medium heat until the butter is melted. Remove from the heat and cool to lukewarm.
• Combine the warm water, yeast, and a pinch of sugar in a small bowl and let sit until the yeast is foaming, 5 to 10 minutes.
• Combine the milk/butter mixture and the yeast mixture in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix in the 3/4 cup of sugar, the salt and the baking soda. Mix in the cocoa and 2 cups of the flour. Switch to the dough hook and continue to add flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until the dough starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl. (You may need a little less or a little more flour.) Knead at medium-low speed until the dough is smooth and tacky but not overly sticky, 3-5 minutes.
• Oil a large bowl with vegetable oil. Turn the dough onto a counter and form it into a ball. Put the dough in the bowl and turn it over to coat it with the oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and allow the dough to rise in a warm spot until doubled in size, about 1 1/2 hours.
• Spray two 9×5-inch loaf pans with nonstick cooking spray.
• Divide the dough in half. Roll one half of the dough into a 12×15-inch rectangle. Brush the dough with half of the softened butter. Sprinkle with half of the sugar and mini chips, pressing them lightly into the dough with your hands. Slice the dough into 6 strips (each 2×15 inches), stack the strips, and cut each stacked strip into 6 pieces. Set the strips upright, side by side, in one of the loaf pans. Repeat with the remaining dough and ingredients. Cover the pans with plastic wrap and allow the loaves to rise in a warm spot until doubled, about 1 hour.
• About 15 minutes before the loaves finish rising, preheat the oven to 350ºF. When the rising is complete, bake the loaves until cooked through, 30 to 35 minutes. Cool on racks.
• To make the glaze, beat the cream cheese, confectioners' sugar and butter in a bowl until light and fluffy. Beat in the milk, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the mixture reaches a drizzling consistency. Remove the loaves from the pans and drizzle with the glaze.
• Cover with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.

CHOCOLATE HAZELNUT PULL-APART BREAD

Steps:

• For the whipped cream: Add the cream, liqueur and confectioners' sugar to a stand mixer fitted with the whip attachment. Whip on high speed until soft peaks form. Hold in the refrigerator until ready to serve, up to 3 hours. (Makes 2 cups.)
• For the pull-apart bread: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Place the hazelnuts on a baking sheet and toast in the oven until light golden brown, 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool completely. Finely chop and set aside.
• In a small bowl, mix together the granulated sugar, cinnamon and salt. Set aside.
• Lightly brush the loaf pan with 1 tablespoon of the melted butter. Line the pan with parchment paper, leaving at least 2 inches of overhang on the long sides to serve as handles later. Lightly brush the parchment with melted butter, then dust the entire pan with 1 tablespoon of the cinnamon sugar mixture; reserve the remaining cinnamon sugar. Tap out any excess sugar from the pan.
• Unroll one tube of bread dough on a very lightly floured work surface. The dough should form a 12-by-15-inch rectangle; stretch the dough a bit if small. With the long side parallel to you, spread the dough with 2/3 cup of the chocolate hazelnut spread, leaving a 1/4-inch boarder. Sprinkle with the chocolate chips and then with 1/4 cup of the chopped hazelnuts.
• Unroll the second tube of dough and lay it on top of the first. Brush the top with melted butter and sprinkle with the reserved cinnamon sugar mixture.
• With a ruler and a chef's knife, mark the short side of the dough at 4-inch intervals. Cutting parallel to you, slice the dough straight across at each mark, into three 4-inch-wide strips. Next, mark the long side of the dough at 3-inch intervals and cut the dough, perpendicular to you, along those marks; you will now have fifteen 3-by-4-inch rectangles.
• Evenly stack three of the rectangles on top of each other so that the bottom piece of dough, without any sugar on it, lays against a piece of dough that does have sugar on it. Place the stack of dough into the loaf pan on its 4-inch side so that the dough fills the width of the pan. Continue stacking pieces of dough and placing the stacks in the loaf pan until all of the rectangles are inside the pan. As you go, you may have to use one hand to hold up the dough already in the pan and gently push it back to make room for all of the dough.
• Using a pairing knife, cut the dough in the loaf pan lengthwise down the middle, cutting three-quarters of the way through, essentially splitting the dough in half. Place the pan on a baking sheet, cover with foil and bake for 55 to 60 minutes. The bread is done when the entire loaf has turned a deep golden brown and the sugar is caramelized and bubbling up the sides of the pan. Remove from the oven and let cool for 20 minutes.
• While the bread cools, whisk together the remaining 1 tablespoon chocolate hazelnut spread and the heavy cream in a bowl until smooth. Hold at room temperature until ready to serve.
• Remove the bread from the loaf pan while still warm, so the caramel does not completely set. Use a bread knife to loosen the sides of the bread that does not have parchment and then lift the bread out of the pan using the parchment handles. Remove the parchment and place the pull-apart bread on a serving tray. Drizzle with the chocolate hazelnut drizzle and sprinkle with the remaining chopped hazelnuts. Serve with the hazelnut whipped cream.

CHOCOLATE-CINNAMON PULL-APART BREAD

Steps:

• Roll and stretch the dough into a 12-inch square on a lightly floured surface. Combine the chocolate, sugar and cinnamon in a bowl.
• Combine the butter, vanilla and salt in a separate bowl then spread over the 12-inch square of dough. Sprinkle with the chocolate mixture, pressing lightly. Cut the dough into 16 small squares and make 4 stacks of 4 squares each.
• Place each stack on its side in a buttered 9-by-5-inch loaf pan. Gently separate the dough layers so the dough fills the pan. Sprinkle with any fallen pieces of chocolate.
• Cover the loaf loosely with plastic wrap and set aside in a warm place until the dough rises by half its size, 1 to 2 hours.
• Preheat the oven to 350. Bake the loaf until it's browned and cooked through, 40 to 45 minutes (tent with foil if it's browning too quickly). Let cool 15 minutes in the pan, then loosen the edges with a knife. Remove to a plate and let cool 30 minutes.

PULL-APART CHOCOLATE CHRYSANTHEMUM BREAD

Steps:

• Dtir the yeast and 1 teaspoon honey into 1 cup warm water (100 to 110ºF). Let sit until bubbly, about 5 minutes. In a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the eggs and yolks, olive oil, salt, remaining 1/4 cup honey and the yeast mixture. Mix on low until combined. Add 4 cups flour on low speed, 1 cup at a time, and mix to form a smooth, wet dough. Switch to the dough hook and knead on medium-high, adding up to 1/2 cup more flour to make a slightly sticky dough that forms a ball around the hook, 4 to 5 minutes. Form the dough into a ball, place in a large bowl and lightly coat in olive oil. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled in size, about 1 1/2 hours.
• Meanwhile, stir together the chocolate, butter, pecans, sugar, cinnamon and salt in a medium bowl to make a chunky paste.
• Butter a 10-inch round cake pan and set aside. When the dough has risen, punch it down and roll with a lightly floured rolling pin on a well-floured work surface into a 24-by-16-inch rectangle (about 1/4-inch thick). Use a 3 1/2-inch round cutter to cut out as many circles as you can from the dough. Fill each circle to the edge with about 1 tablespoon filling and fold in half, then in half again, so it looks like a quarter of a circle. Pinch the tip of the dough so that the rounded edge opens slightly. Arrange pieces, pinched-side down, in a circle around the edge of the pan with some space between the pieces and the chocolate filling showing at the top. Arrange 2 more circles in the pan, ending with one piece in the center. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until almost doubled, about 30 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Brush the risen dough with beaten egg and bake until golden and the center of the bread registers about 180ºF on an instant-read thermometer (avoid touching the pan), 30 to 35 minutes. Cool in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes, then remove and serve warm.